On the Cape

Thursday

Get ready for your visit with this roundup of entertainment recommendations and news items from GateHouse Media's Cape Cod publications.

Get ready for your visit with this roundup of entertainment recommendations and news items from GateHouse Media's Cape Cod publications.

10 best bets

1. The Provincetown Portuguese Festival continues this weekend. The parade along Commercial Street (from the Cape Inn to Franklin Street) begins Saturday at 3 p.m. The annual blessing of the fleet is at 1 p.m. Sunday at MacMillan Pier following the traditional procession. On Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., the Lion's Club sponsors a Portuguese food court with seafood, soups and linguica, a traditional sausage. Go to www.provincetownportuguesefestival.com.

2. The Cape Cod National Seashore is one of 200 venues nationwide to host "From Sea to Shining Sea: 200 Years of Charting America's Coasts." The exhibit will be on display through the summer at Salt Pond Visitor Center at Rte. 6 and Nauset Road in Eastham. Call 508-255-3421 or go to www.nps.gov/caco.

3. The Ohio University Players perform “My Fair Lady” at the Monomoy Theater (776 Main St., Chatham) this weekend. For tickets call the box office 508-945-1589. In Orleans, at the Academy of Performing Arts (120 Main Street), don't miss "The Fantasticks" through July 14. For tickets call 508- 255-1963.

4. Help capture, tag and release nesting terrapins at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary on Saturday and meet bird expert Mike O'Connor, local author of "Why Don't Woodpeckers Get Headaches." Call 508- 349-2615 to make reservations.

6. Cape Harmony, a young, female a cappella group kicks off its second summer season with a series of 7:30 p.m. concerts. The group performs Tuesday, June 26, at the West Yarmouth Congregational Church, 383 Main St. West Yarmouth. On Wednesday, June 27, the singers appear on the Village Green across from Mashpee Commons. Thursday, June 28, you can catch them in Hyannis at Pope John Paul II High School, 129 High School Road. Cape Harmony will perform at those locations weekly through mid-August. The group also performs at 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 29, at the Eastham Methodist Church on Rte. 6.

7. The Cole Bros. Circus of the Stars pitches its tent Friday, June 22, at Crowes Purchase Park, Rte. 28, West Yarmouth. Tent raising will be between 7 and 10 a.m. The circus will be in town through Sunday June 24. Shows are 4:40 and 7:30 p.m. Friday, with an additional 1:30 p.m. show on Saturday. Sunday performances are 1:30 and 4:30 p.m.

8. "2 Pianos, 4 Hands," a two-man take on the development of a pair of pianists, is at the Cape Playhouse, Rte. 6A, in Dennis. The show is performed Monday to Saturday through June 30. Call 508-385-3911.

9. Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is at the Cotuit Center for the Arts, 4404 Rte. 28, Cotuit, Thursday to Sunday through July 8.

10. The Arts Alive festival takes place June 22-24 at Peg Noonan Park on the Falmouth Library Lawn on Main Street. A town dance will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. under the big tent with music of the '40s performed by Stage Door Canteen.

YARMOUTH - The Yarmouth Board of Health has approved fluoridation of the town’s water with a vote of three-to-two during a raucous meeting Monday afternoon at Yarmouth Town Hall. The vote makes Yarmouth the first town on Cape Cod to move toward fluoridation. As each of board member made their opinions known, residents moaned and booed. One man stormed out of the room calling the board a bunch of “fascists” before the vote was even taken. At one point, the crowd chanted, “Shame on you. Shame on you,” and police had to restore order. Opponents plan to continue the fight against fluoridation.
-- Jen Ouellette

Wind farm would fall outside buffer zone for radar

A recently released Department of Defense report calls for a 25-kilometer “offset zone” between possible wind farms and the PAVE PAWS radar installation in Sagamore.
However, Cape Wind Associates’ plan for a wind farm in Nantucket Sound would fall slightly more than two kilometers outside such a zone. According to the report, that means the proposed wind farm would not affect operations at the strategically vital defense radar site. PAVE PAWS is shorthand for the phased-array warning system run by the United States Air Force’s 6th Space Squadron. The high-tech radar system scans the skies for intercontinental ballistic missiles. The base’s other mission is to monitor space for debris, such as dying satellites.
-- Craig Salters

Chatham selectmen withhold support for filling breach

CHATHAM - Selectmen Tuesday voted unanimously to withhold their support from a Special Town Meeting article asking residents to pony up tax dollars for a dredging project aimed at closing the latest break on North Beach. Estimates put the cost of the project at $2 million. “There’s no guarantee it’s going to work, and there’s no guarantee it’s going to last,” selectman Ron Bergstrom said. A special Town Meeting is set for July 31. The 600 foot wide and 60 foot deep breach on North Beach was created by the April 15 nor’easter.
-- David Brooke

Wind energy blows into Harwich

HARWICH - Wind energy took a big step forward in Harwich when the planning board OK’d a commercial wind turbine in an industrial-zoned part of town.
The 123-foot turbine will supply energy to Gerald Bojanowski’s public storage/locker company Depot Storage as well as to other businesses in the same building at 500 Depot St., North Harwich. The turbine will have a 30-year lifespan, he added.
-- David Brooke

Cape Cod back to three Dairy Queens

HARWICH - The Rte. 28 Dairy Queen is back. After being seriously damaged in a fire 18 months ago, the Harwich Port institution will open its doors Tuesday, June 26, re-establishing its place as one of only three Dairy Queens left on Cape Cod. Other Cape Cod locations are in Yarmouth and Falmouth.
-- David Brooke

Suspect charged in Hyannis hate crimes

BARNSTABLE - Police have arrested the man allegedly behind the defacing of Calvary Baptist Church and Cape Cod Linen Service, both in Hyannis. One case is being called a hate crime because it involves a place of worship. John C Mackiel, 18, of Arrowhead Drive in Hyannis was arrested Monday on a number of charges including the spray painting of the church. Barnstable Police Sgt. Sean Sweeney said Mackiel is likely involved with the other tagging incidents reported at private residences and schools in the area as well. “He’s been doing vandalism for a while, so he has a slew of charges against him,” Sweeney said.
-- Jen Ouellette

No cranberry festival this year in Falmouth

Volunteer organizers of the Falmouth Cranberry Harvest and Farm Festival have decided to postpone this year’s event, which had been scheduled for October. Organizers could not find a wet harvest similar to that of the town-owned John Parker Road bogs, which had been the site of previous festivals but are now fallow. Attempts to find other sites with suitable parking and other amenities were not successful. They intended to have the event in 2008 and are searching for a farmer willing to help them.

Earl Road Beach opens early

HARWICH - Earl Road Beach opened two weeks early Tuesday with some improvements. The beach expanded its parking from 50 to 100 spaces, a new bathroom was built, and the beach was expanded by 50 feet.